Roy Cape
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INTRODUCTION ROY CAPE: I never thought that I would be writing a book one day. Being approached by Jocelyne, I thought about it and I knew that I had a nice little story to tell about my experiences and the people I have met through these experiences who had become the pillars of my future development. I knew that I could then pay tribute to these people who had paved the way of this path that I have traveled over the past ﬁfty- odd years. I am referring here to my teacher Sister Paul and to Frankie Francis, Art De Coteau, Sel Wheeler, Ron Berridge, Beverly Griﬃth, Earl Rodney, Clive Bradley, Frankie McIntosh, Pelham Goddard, and Leston Paul, who have been a great part of my training and the ﬁnest arrangers throughout the years. It was quite challenging to work on this book in many diﬀerent places— Port of Spain, Manzanilla, Toronto [Canada], Grenada—at diﬀerent times over the years. There was no documentation, and we had to rely on pure memory of my living experiences. With no preparatory note, I had to dig deep inside to get back the memory and relive what has already been lived. All the things that I went through became part of living memories about the road that would eventually lead me to be maturing in the journey of my travels. I will also say that, thanks to all the people who have oﬀered their knowledge and all the facts, we were able to put things together. I also want to thank Jocelyne for all the time and patience. She has never once been overwhelmed by the challenges. This is how we got here.